Keywords

Abstract

The concept of Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) has reached a phase where countries all around the world are encouraging its implementation into mainstream construction. In the United States, both private and public sector buildings are incorporating energy efficient technologies to reduce their environmental impact, while increasing the productivity and comfort of its occupants. A Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB) performs as expected only when the buildingâ€™s envelope, HVAC and other mechanical/electrical systems work in unison. Subsequently, once these buildings are occupied, the behavior of its occupants significantly influences the buildings energy performance.Â The authors have captured the modulation of temperature, relative humidity, and carbon-dioxide within one such Near-Net Zero Energy Building during the heating season. This house is a Deep-Energy Retrofit Home completed as a marketing and demonstration home for a joint neighborhood stabilization project and U.S. Department of Energy funded community-wide retrofit grant program in Lafayette, Indiana. The house includes an internet based real-time home energy monitoring system, which facilitates reviewing the changes in the houses energy performance as a consequence of fluctuating internal temperature settings and external climate conditions. Post retrofit blower-door test result conform that the house has been made fairly air-tight during the retrofit. Hence ventilation within the house is achieved via an Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) with multiple stages of operation. To this end, the paper is an exploratory examination of the inter-relationships between occupancy, interior temperature, relative humidity, carbon-dioxide levels and energy consumption within the retrofitted residential Near-Net Zero Energy Building.